Expedition Beta: The Equipment Section

Posted: September 24, 2011 | Author: Dennis N. Santana | Filed under: Expedition, Fluff/Inspiration, Homebrew, Other Systems, RPG |Leave a comment »

In Expedition, a lot of the equipment is just rolled into the Expedition Points system. You don’t tally up how much lantern oil and ropes you bought because this isn’t Link: The Faces of Evil. But I wanted to make other types of items more distinct. To that end, I set about expanding some other areas of the equipment section. In the previous version, a Weapon gave you a damage bonus or an attack roll bonus depending on its size and the kind of weapon it was, and it also gave you options during a damaging attack. In the latest version, attack roll bonuses are basically pointless, and I’ve done away with the old model for handling a weapon’s stats.

I did this mostly because the idea of “damaging attack options” confused a lot of people. In fact looking back on it, I was sometimes confused myself as to the timing of these abilities and that’s not good. Let’s do a comparison of what a weapon used to look like in the alpha, and what they will look like in the beta, and talk a bit about it.

In The Alpha

BLADES

Blades are common, sharp-edged melee weapons that offer swift, powerful attacks.

Size	Attack	Damage	Type	Cost
Light	+2	+0	Slashing	2
Versatile	+1	+1	Slashing	4
Heavy	+0	+2	Slashing	6

Blade Basic Attack [Any Attack Action]

1 Edge: You can disengage one enemy before making this attack, if it has no Edge.

2 Edge: You deal 5 damage to 1 enemy other than the target. It cannot be soaked.

3 Edge: You can target up to two enemies with this attack.

In The Beta

BLADES {Melee}

•Slashing: Blades are slashing weapons, used to make cutting and slicing attacks.

•Spin Attack: If you spend 2 or more Edge on a damaging attack with a Blade, you can target one enemy you are engaged with per Edge spent on the attack.

So what did we do here, ultimately? We jettisoned the modifiers table because in the new version of the game, getting attack roll modifiers is very unimportant. And while damage roll bonuses are still useful as they’ve always been, they can be made a part of the common weapon rules, insuring that every weapon has a baseline of usefulness. From there, we removed the old system of special abilities, to a more common sense one. Here, you know exactly what the ability is saying, and when it will happen. Not only that but we’ve jettisoned some of the lesser abilities and kept the most interesting one.

I wanted each weapon to have an ability that makes it useful to particular players or particular situations, and sets the weapon apart. For that I turned for inspiration to video games. I thought to myself “If I held down the A or B button while holding this weapon, what does it do when it “charges up” that other weapons don’t?” Some weapons are unique in different ways than this, but generally that’s how I thought about them when I came up with them.

About Armor

SIMPLE ARMOR [Cost: 2]

•Description: A lightweight set of armor, values swiftness over protection.

•Special Ability: You have a +4 bonus to Initiative rolls.

NOBLE ARMOR [Cost: 2]

•Description: Fancy clothing: not very protective, but is comfortable and lovely.

•Special Ability: You gain 1 extra Temporary Fortune at the start of any social-related task, as you make an admirable first impression.

Here are two of the (currently) 12 sets of armor in Expedition beta. You will note that these suits of armor don’t actually offer a bonus to a defense. That’s because there’s no real defenses in Expedition beta. But having suits of armor is a staple of fantasy games. I wanted to have that, but the new game has no defense values, and I didn’t want every armor to grant extra health or to grant damage reduction. Instead, every suit of armor has an ability it grants you. Some handle the verisimilitude of this better than others, but I am not terribly worried about whether an armor’s ability “makes sense.”

The problem with armor is that, if they all offer protective bonuses, why not wear the heaviest and most protective one? Typically the reasons for this are: a) you get penalties to other things to compensate or b) you have an incentive (or a restriction) tying you to a specific, archetype-appropriate type of armor. So you either don’t wear Plate Armor because it makes you slow, or you don’t wear Plate Armor because you can’t/because you get goodies if you don’t. I didn’t want either of these approaches. To me, the choice of when to wear an armor should be based on the utility of that armor to a situation. Sometimes, the whole party should be up to their necks in heavy metal. But sometimes, you have to take off that armor and put on some cool clothes. You might want a suit that lets you carry more weapons, or you might need to put on a scuba suit to dive underwater.

Yes there’s something approximating a scuba suit as one of the armors.

Signature Items

Finally there’s an optional set of items called “Signature Items.” Signature Items are stylish and interesting items that are part of a character’s persona. They are items the character has that most others might not, and that the character knows particularly well. Some of them are somewhat anachronistic to fantasy, but that’s okay. A character has up to two signature items, and he or she can gain 1 Fortune at the start of an appropriate task by invoking the item and how it applies.

Here’s some of the Signature Items:

•Spyglass

•Pictograph Box

•Ornate Folding Fan

•Hookshot

•Spellbook

•Abacus

•Familiar

•Music Box

Here’s where you can help, if you wish! Look at the above list, and think of an item sort of like that. An interesting item, that perhaps in another system would have more granular rules determining its use, but in Expedition, is a Signature Item – limited in quantity, and serving as a narrative bonus and a tool for good roleplaying. Post comments with your ideas for Signature Items, and I’ll see if I can include them in the document, along with a description of what it might apply to. For example, the Folding Fan as currently written is a social item – it adds to your style and mystique in the eyes of others.

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